Variable Interest Entities - Consolidated Balance Sheet (Details) - USD ($) $ in Millions		Sep. 30, 2020	Dec. 31, 2019
Assets
Cash and cash equivalents		$ 931	$ 285
Accounts receivable		862	919
Inventory, net		157	162
Other current assets		28	20
Assets held for sale		19	0
Licenses		2,628	2,471
Property, plant and equipment, net		2,322	2,207
Operating lease right-of-use assets		919	900
Other assets and deferred charges		536	566
Total assets	[1]	9,180	8,164
Liabilities
Current liabilities		730	750
Long-term operating lease liabilities		877	865
Other deferred liabilities and credits		364	319
Consolidated Variable Interest Entities
Assets
Cash and cash equivalents		19	19
Accounts receivable		620	639
Inventory, net		3	6
Other current assets		19	7
Assets held for sale		18	0
Licenses		639	649
Property, plant and equipment, net		118	104
Operating lease right-of-use assets		44	44
Other assets and deferred charges		317	346
Total assets		1,797	1,814
Liabilities
Current liabilities		28	32
Long-term operating lease liabilities		40	41
Other deferred liabilities and credits		22	14
Total liabilities		$ 90	$ 87

[1] The consolidated total assets as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, include assets held by consolidated variable interest entities (VIEs) of $1,087 million and $930 million, respectively, which are not available to be used to settle the obligations of UScellular. The consolidated total liabilities as of September 30, 2020 and December 31, 2019, include certain liabilities of consolidated VIEs of $20 million and $22 million, respectively, for which the creditors of the VIEs have no recourse to the general credit of UScellular. See Note 10 — Variable Interest Entities for additional information.